PM Modi Degree Row: Delhi HC Quashes CIC Order To Disclose Details

The Delhi High Court on Monday quashed a Central Information Commission (CIC) 2016 order that had instructed for the disclosure of the details of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bachelor’s degree. The court had stayed the order on its very first hearing on the matter on January 17, 2017. 

The plea was filed in 2016 by RTI activist Neeraj. The CIC had ordered DU to allow inspection of its register containing details of all students who passed the BA examination in 1978 - the year Modi completed his graduation. 

Justice Sachin Datta gave the judgement, which had been reserved on February 27, after hearing the petition filed by the DU. The order had asked DU to release personal information including their roll numbers, names, fathers’ names and marks — and to provide certified extracts of the relevant pages.

The DU asserted that it cannot reveal the personal information of all students who had appeared in Bachelor of Arts in the Year 1978. DU had argued that the information of students is held in “fiduciary capacity, the same is exempt from disclosure” under the RTI Act. DU had said the CIC order had “far-reaching adverse consequences” for all universities in the country that held degrees of crores of students.

Earlier, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had argued that RTI cannot be used to satiate a third party’s curiosity. He had rejected the order asserting that it was “neither merit, nor legality”. 

The counsel of the RTI applicants argued that the RTI law allows disclosure of the prime minister’s educational details because it serves a greater public good.